CHINCOTEAGUE, Va. - Before Chincoteague Island became a bustling attraction, two devastating fires swept through Main Street more than a century ago. This changed the island's layout, architecture and history, according to the Museum of Chincoteague Island.
Before Chincoteague became the popular tourist destination it is today, the island had dirt roads lined with wood and brick buildings, according to Cindy Faith, assistant director of the Museum of Chincoteague Island.
“It looks sort of like any movie set that you would have seen out west depicting the turn of the century,” Faith said. “They had second story porches overlooking the street, and it was dirt roads still, so it was a bit primitive.”
This was until fires destroyed parts of the town. In 1920, a fire broke out in a local ice cream parlor on the east side of Main Street. Faith said that the fire was caused by two boys working in the ice cream parlor at the time, however the museum still does not know their reason behind starting the fire. According to Faith, the fire burned down buildings such as the newly built Marine Bank, the local post office and the Atlantic Hotel.
“There was a post office back there, there was a hotel, there was a blacksmith shop and other businesses back there, all of them lost in that, in that fire," said Faith.
Now 101 years later, buildings like the Island Theatre and the Taylor Bank now stand on the remnants of the first fire.
A similar fire broke out in 1924 on the west side of Main Street while the town was still recovering from the previous one three years prior, damaging a barrel factory and the Wilton Mercantile, a local store, according to Faith.
Similar to the 1920 fire, the 1924 fire was arson. Faith said that the 1924 fire was started by the wife of the owner of the barrel factory in anger towards her husband. Now Don’s Seafood stands in its place.
Despite the financial damage done to both sides of Main Street and the emotional damage done to the citizens of Chincoteague, Faith said the fires gave the town an opportunity to build back better.
“It gave the town an opportunity to straighten the road and do some other things that probably would have never happened, because you can't just change everybody's business alignment, but now you have a clean slate,” Faith said. “They did that kind of street change, but then buildings do start to get rebuilt, and we have one side of Main Street that is now being rebuilt in brick and stone.”
In addition to rebuilding the town’s infrastructure, the fires eventually led to the creation of the fire company and the Pony Swim as it is known today, according to fire company.
For viewers on the majority of the Delmarva peninsula, the event can be watched for free on cable and over-the-air television. Outside of our coverage area, the 101st annual Chincoteague Pony Swim will be streamed live on DSN+.
